iStock/Thinkstock(CHICAGO) — If you've talked to your dog or named your car, you're not only normal, you're smart.

Anthropomorphizing — that is giving human qualities to plants, animals, or things, proves that humans are "uniquely smart" creatures on this planet.

This is according to University of Chicago behavioral science professor Nicholas Epley.

Epley tells the publication Quartz, that rather than outgrowing the tendency to attribute human qualities to say, your teddy bear, "Recognizing the mind of another human being involves the same psychological processes as recognizing a mind in other animals, a god, or even a gadget. It is a reflection of our brain’s greatest ability rather than a sign of our stupidity."